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Road to Russia 2018
- Thread starter Furball
- Start date
BoyBrumby
Englishman
Still love the world cup, me. Especially the group stages when there's two or three games on every day.
Main gripe is it comes round so friggin' quickly now!! Four years ain't what it was...
There seems to be some kind of inverse correlation between how easy England have it in qualifying and how well we do in the actual tournament too. We lost 3 times in qualifying for 82 and yet topped a group including France and Czechoslovakia and exited unbeaten after goalless draws with Spain and West Germany (as was), and made it to Italia 90 behind Sweden with 3 wins and 3 draws (Terry Butcher famously shedding almost literally pints of blood in the cause) and made the semis. Nowadays we routinely piss qualifying and barely get unpacked before we come home.
Main gripe is it comes round so friggin' quickly now!! Four years ain't what it was...
There seems to be some kind of inverse correlation between how easy England have it in qualifying and how well we do in the actual tournament too. We lost 3 times in qualifying for 82 and yet topped a group including France and Czechoslovakia and exited unbeaten after goalless draws with Spain and West Germany (as was), and made it to Italia 90 behind Sweden with 3 wins and 3 draws (Terry Butcher famously shedding almost literally pints of blood in the cause) and made the semis. Nowadays we routinely piss qualifying and barely get unpacked before we come home.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
Yeah, I'll be the same if we ever qualify for a major tournament again. 20 years and counting, I can remember the inquest when we failed to qualify for USA 94 because not reaching World Cups had become unheard of. I cried my eyes out after the Italy game in Euro 2008 qualifying and got far more emotional than I expected when Northern Ireland beat Ukraine in the Euros last summer, I think in part because I've resigned myself to Scotland just always being ****e.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Yeah my original post was not to say I do not enjoy them anymore. I invariably do.
And like you I still feel they are different and better than nearly anything else. I enjoyed the last World Cup immensely, for instance. But something just isn't the same, but it's probably just that I am now viewing them as an adult rather than a child.
May also be something to do with the fact that I just don't enjoy football as a whole as much as I once did. Find it increasingly difficult to look beyond the money-grabbing aspects of it these days. Plus the fact that when I try and think about it objectively there I find the appeal of watching grown men run around in glorified PE kits somewhat difficult to rationalise. The world cup is about the only thing left in the entire sport that has an element of romance left for me now.
It's weird how I still really enjoy playing Football Manager though, maybe more than ever, despite the fact that my interest in the sport is probably at its lowest since I started watching in the early 90s. Not sure how to explain that. Just really enjoy the games I suppose.
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Cabinet96
Global Moderator
Not a red if you're deemed to be "attempting to win the ball". Think the verdict that he was is defendable.
Uppercut
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I still think World Cups are amazing, and will probably watch almost every game, but I do think they're getting worse independent of me getting old. They used to have all of the drama, romance, colour, stories etc. that they have today and high-quality attacking football.
Uppercut
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Yeah when I saw it from the original angle I just burst out laughing, but from other angles the decision looked... understandable-ish under the new rules.
vcs
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I think Euro 2008 was the best international tournament since a long time. Spain, Russia and Netherlands all played very good football in that tournament. Especially Russia. Arshavin looked amazing.
OverratedSanity
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The last WC was pretty amazing tbh. Certainly the best among the ones I've seen (ie) post 94
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Furball
Evil Scotsman
I don't think many of the World Cups I've watched have contained the latter tbf.
I do find it funny the way Italia 90 is romanticised in this country, was a ****ing awful tournament.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
By miles.
GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
England not qualifying in 94 still stings me.
GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
Not a coincidence IMO. Was at the England game last Friday and had he same conversation with my brother.
We took 2002 and 2004 campaigns to the wire, qualifying with draws, and had (with hindsight) reasonable tournaments. Since then, we’ve either qualified with ease or not at all and our displays have been, well, ****e
flibbertyjibber
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16th June they have 4 games on.
Ausage
Cricketer Of The Year
Oh wow, they changed the rule.
Denying a goalscoring opportunity: Red card rule relaxed by IFAB - BBC Sport
Still probably a red tbh. I don't think that was a genuine attempt for the ball. But yeah not as egregious as it would have been a couple of years ago.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
I thought you were referring to a violent tackle.
In Scotland, this gets overturned on appeal:
Cabinet96
Global Moderator
Think you're right about the fact that there's so much club football on tv these days means the world cup isn't quite as special. Most Saturday/Sundays during the season I'll just sit and watch 3/4 games throughout the day, and the standard is probably higher than you'd get in most world cup games. It still has it's own appeal though, being in the summer, happening every day throughout the early stages, and being something of a novelty purely from the fact I don't watch the actual teams playing very regularly, if at all, during the four year intervals.
Ausage
Cricketer Of The Year
Nasty.
S.Kennedy
International Vice-Captain
Really? Roger Milla and his Cameroonians beating the holders Argie, opening match? Gazza's tears. I think Scotland even qualified. Charlton's Irish were in also.
cpr
International Coach
Yeah but most of the games weren't exactly classics. Think our group consisted of many 1-1 draws and a mighty 1-0 win over Egypt to put us through, a 119th minute winner against a Belgium side that aren't the Belgium of today, then a panicy win over Cameroon. Ireland managed another dour draw with Romania I think before being beaten by Italy was it? Meanwhile Scotland got done over by Costa Rica IIRC.
For me it holds a special memory as it was my first tournament I can remember, and ignited my interest in the game. Also my uncle gave me a huge book about the tournament full of photo's and reports of every game, was an absolute treasure for a 7 year old boy. However as an actual football spectacle I wouldn't place it above any over year really.
As an aside, do you hold Senegals win over France in 2002 in the same light as Cameroon v Argentina in 1990? Its the same thing really, but years add extra nostalgia to things. (OK I'll accept an answer that devalues Senegals achievements because of the fact El Hadji Diouf played, but beyond that....)
For me it holds a special memory as it was my first tournament I can remember, and ignited my interest in the game. Also my uncle gave me a huge book about the tournament full of photo's and reports of every game, was an absolute treasure for a 7 year old boy. However as an actual football spectacle I wouldn't place it above any over year really.
As an aside, do you hold Senegals win over France in 2002 in the same light as Cameroon v Argentina in 1990? Its the same thing really, but years add extra nostalgia to things. (OK I'll accept an answer that devalues Senegals achievements because of the fact El Hadji Diouf played, but beyond that....)